MEXICO — Selectmen on Tuesday voted to reduce the town’s proposed recreation budget by 20 percent, to $114,842. That revised budget number will go before voters at a town meeting later this summer.

Selectmen convened Tuesday’s budget workshop – held jointly with the Budget Committee — in response to a June 12 vote where residents rejected a proposed recreation budget of $144,101. That budget would have represented a 54 percent increase over the current year’s recreation budget.

Prior to that June 12 vote, the Budget Committee put forth their own budget recommendation of $106,811. On Tuesday, the Budget Committee distanced themselves even further from selectmen, voting to reduce their recommendation to $93,585 — equal to the current  recreation budget.

During a short but contentious meeting Tuesday, selectmen and Budget Committee members debated not only the individual recreation budget items, but the very worth of the recreation department itself.

Budget Committee member Albert Aniel argued that the town has no role in paying for recreational pursuits.

“Nowhere is there in the charter anything that says we have to provide recreational activities for whomever,” Aniel said. “Granted, the library and recreation are extremely worthwhile. But it is my opinion that this is not the purpose of town government, especially not in this day and age.”

A main sticking point in the budget discussions was a proposed salary increase for Recreation Director Wayne Sevigny. Sevigny works 20 hours per week and takes home approximately $9,000 a year. Under the selectmen’s original proposed budget, he would have worked 30 hours, taking home $30,000.

Shortly before Tuesday’s meeting, the town’s Recreation Board reduced Sevigny’s proposed salary from $30,000 to $23,660, and lowered additional line items for fuel, insurance costs, recreation equipment, and reserve funds. In total, the board reduced its budget by $26,259, to $117,842.

Despite those reductions, Sevigny’s salary continued to be a major obstacle for several members of the Budget Committee, some of whom suggested that Sevigny work for 40 hours a week at just above minimum wage. Selectman Reginald Arsenault also called for a lower budget figure, suggesting that voters would once again defeat any budget they deemed to high.

“We’ve got to come in there with a realistic budget that the townspeople are going to agree to,” Arsenault said.

Others, including Budget Committee member Peter DeFilipp, argued that the long work hours required to run the recreation programs justified the salary increase.

“If you’re looking for someone to run programs, organize the operation, that’s not a minimum wage job,” DeFilipp said.

In the end, Selectmen voted 3-1 to take an additional $3,000 out of the recreational reserve fund, bringing the Recreation Board’s revised budget down to $114,842. Arsenault voted against the motion.

Voters will get to decide the merits of the revised recreation budget later this summer. At their July 24 meeting, selectmen will schedule a public hearing on the new proposed budget, which will be followed by a town meeting and secret ballot.